14 Charged in Bergen County, Multi-State Sports Betting Ring Bust

By Lanning Taliaferro

An illicit sports betting ring that stretched from New York to Florida has been busted, with 14 people arrested and more than $3 million seized, Rockland County, NY District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe announced today.

The illegal enterprise had operations in Bergen County, New York City and Palm Beach, N.Y .and those charged include residents of Pearl River, Nanuet and Tomkins Cove in Rockland County, N.Y. and Pelham Manor in Westchester County, NY.

Officials estimated that the ring took in millions of dollars a month over a 16-month period by accepting wagers on a wide variety of sporting events—ranging from professional football, basketball, hockey and baseball to college basketball, among others.

“Such unlawfully earned profits are commonly diverted to more insidious criminal enterprises,” Zugibe said. “In fact, the investigation uncovered evidence that the enterprise had links to organized crime.”

The crackdown was the culmination of a 16-month probe led by the Rockland DA’s Organized Crime Unit with the assistance of 10 other law enforcement agencies: the New York State Police Special Investigative Unit, the Clarkstown Police Department, the Ramapo Police Department, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, the Queens District Attorney’s Organized Crime Division, the NYPD Asset Forfeiture Unit, the Department of Homeland Security, the Broward County Sheriff’s Department, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI.

There were about 60 court authorized search warrants in New York, New Jersey and Florida.

So far, more than $3 million dollars in cash and other properties have been seized. This is an ongoing investigation and it is anticipated that there will be further arrests, Zugibe said.

The 14 defendants—who range in age from 27 to 74—are charged with promoting gambling, possession of gambling records, money laundering and other offenses.

The DA’s office named 10:

• Patsy Capolongo of West Palm Beach, FL; charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree
• Carmine Potenza of Pearl River, NY; charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree
• Harry Floershiem of Tompkins Cove, NY; charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree
• Thomas Feeney of Nanuet, NY; charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree
• Brian E. Kelly, of Pearl River, NY; charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the second degree
• Richard Simko of Tomkins Cove, NY; charged with Promoting Gambling in the second degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the 4th degree
• Richard Lacava of Pelham Manor, NY; charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree
• Eric Wachter of Brooklyn, NY; charged with Money Laundering in the Fourth degree
• John Tognino of Bronx, NY; charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree
• Robert Wisiak of Queens, NY; charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree

All of them were arraigned before Clarkstown Town Justice Rolf Thorsen and released without bail.